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EARLY HISTORY OF HOLLIS, N. H, 



BY 

Hon. SAMITEL T. WORCESTER, 

or NASHTA, N. H. 



EARLY HISTOEY OF IIOLLIS, N. H. 



Cominuuicated by the Hon. Samuel T. Worcester, of Nashua, N. H., for the N. 
Hist, and Gen. Register for January, 1874. 



FROM ITS SETTLEMENT TO THE BUILDING OF THE SECOND 
MEETING-HOUSE . 

THE original charter of the old township of Dunstable, within 
whose limits the present town of Ilollis* wrts included, was 
granted by the general court of the province of Massachusetts, 
October 16, 1673, O. S. Dunstable, as then chartered, comprised 
an area of nearly two hundred squai-e miles. It lay upon both sides 
of the Merrimack river, and contained all or nearly all of what 
are noAV Nashua, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, and parts of Pelham, 
Amherst, Milford, Merrimack and Brookline in New-Hampshire, 
and the town of Tyngsborough, the east part of Dunstable, 
and a small part of Pepperell and Townsend in Massachu- 
setts. It extended from the north lines of the towns of Chelms- 
ford and Groton, as then established, to the Souhcgan river, 
its western boundary being a north and south line drawn from its 
north-west corner, a short distance west of Muscotanipus pond in 
Brookline, to Dram Cup Hill, so called, near the Souhcgan river and 
now in Milford. 

The first white settler of the part of Dunstable, since known as 
Hollis, was Peter Powers, afterward a captain of provincial troops 
in the old French Avar in which Quebec was taken. Capt. Powers 
was a native of Littleton, Mass., and removed from that place to 
the part of Dunstable now known as Nashua in 1728. In the fall 
of 1730, he made his way through the then unbroken wilderness, 
selected a place for a new home about a half mile N. W. of the 
present meeting-house, and in the spring following settled upon 
it with his family. This was the only white family within the 
present limits of the town till the summer of 1732, Avhen Eleazer 
Flagg, the ancestor of the Hollis families of that name, settled in 
what is now the south-west part of the town, about three miles from 
Capt. Powers. The third family was that of Thomas Dinsmore, 

1 This article forms a part of an address delivered hy the writer before the Nashua His- 
torical Society in February, 1872, and subsequently delivered before the citizens of Hollis. 
1 



who established himself about two miles soiith-westerly from the 
present mcctiiig-house on or near the road leading to Pepperell. In 
the year 173G, the little settlement numloered nine families, and in 
the summer of 1739 that number had grown to about twenty. 

These settlers supposed themselves to be within the province of 
INIassachusetts, and in the county of Middlesex, and in the summer 
of 1739 they united in a petition to the genci-al court of that pro- 
vince for a towushi]) charter. On the presentation of this jietition, 
the general court appointed a committee to inquire into the pro- 
priety of granting it.^ The report of this committee, and the action 
of the general court upon it, have very fortunately been preserved, 
and are now to be found recorded at full length on the first pages of 
the first volume of the Hollis records, and I have quoted them in 
substance in tliis paper as specimens of the like documents of that 
period. 

These original records, in what I have now to say of the early his- 
tory of Hollis, will be my principal guide. Where I can consistently 
do so, I shall press them into my service and let them speak for me 
in their own simple and homely dialect. We may occasionally observe 
in the manuscript, Avide, and sometimes grotesque departures from the 
more modern orthography of Webster and Worcester, and also from 
the grammar and syntax of Lowth and Murray. Yet in thisc re- 
spect^, they are less subject to unfavorable criticism than many 
of our town-records of a much more modern date. The style of 
them is terse, plain, simple, and direct, and the words well chosen 
to expi'css the ideas and matters to be recorded, and they contain 
the municipal autobiography of our ancestors, commencing four 
generations ago, written down from year to year, and sometimes 
from month to month, by persons appointed for the purpose, while 
what they had done, or what they at the time proposed to do, was 
still fresh in the minds of all. 

THE REPORT OF THE C03[MITTEE AND THE ACTION UPON IT OF 
THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL. 

The most important parts of this report are embraced in the 
following extracts : — 

" The Committee on the Petition of tlic Inliabitants * * on the 
Westerly side of Dunstable and Northerly side of Grotton, having repaired 
to the Lands jjctitioued to be Erected into a Township, and carefully View- 
ed the same, find a very good tract of Land in Dunstable, West of 
N ashaway River, between said River and the Souhegan River extending from 
Grotton new Grant and Townsend line Six miles East, lying in a very com- 
modious form for a Township, and on said Lands there is now about twenty 
Families and many more settling. * * That none of them live nearer to 
a Meeting House than Seven miles, and if they go to their own Town have 
to pass over a Ferry the greater portion of the year. * * 

> This original petition still exists, and is to be found in the office of the secretary of 
state in Boston, with the original signatures of the petitioners. 



" The Committee are of Opinion that the Petitioners are under such 
circumstances as necessitates them to ask relief which will be fully obtained 
by their being made a Township * * The Committee are further of 
the opinion, that for the Support of the Gospel Ministry among them the 
Lands of non-resident Proprietors be taxed at Two Pence per acre, for the 
space of Five Years. 

" Humbly submitted * * by order of the Committee. 

"Thomas Berry." 

" Read in Council, Dec. 27, 1739. And ordered that the Report be so 
far accepted as that the Land mentioned and described therein, with 
the Inhabitants there be Erected into a separate and distinct Precinct * * 
with all such Powers and Privileges as any other Precinct in this Province 
* * and they are also empowered to assess and levy two Pence per acre 
per annum for the space of Five Years upon all the unimproved Lands 
belonging to Non-Resident Proprietors, to be applied to the Support of the 
Ministry. 

" January 1, 1739-40. Consented to. J. Belcher, (Gov.)" 

By the law of the colonial legislature of Massaclmsetts, in force 
from its early history, it was enacted that " the Inhabitants of Each 
Town in that Province should take due care from time to time to be 
constantly provided of a Learned Able and Orthodox minister * * 
Avlio should be Suitably maintained by the Inhabitants of the Town." 
Precincts or parishes were subdivisions of towns, incorporated for 
the maintenance of religious worship ; and, \>y a province law passed 
in 1718, precincts or parishes were invested with the same powers 
and charged with the same duties in respect to the support of the 
ministry as tow^ns.^ * * 

BOUNDARIES AND AEEA OF THE PARISH AND THE NON-RESIDENT TAX. 

The west parish of the old town of Dimstable extended north and 
south, frojn the Souhegan river to the south line of the old town, a 
distance from 9 to 12 miles, and was not far from 10 miles in width, 
and Avas said to have contained an area of about 70,000 acres, being 
more than three times as large as Hollis now is. It included nearly 
all of the present town of Hollis, that part of Amherst south of the 
Souhegan, the most of Milford and Brookline, parts of the towns of 
Nashua and Merrimack, in the state of New-Hampshire, and a small 
part of Pepperell in JNIassaclmsctts. The inhabitants of the parish, 
as we have seen by their charter, had authority to assess 2d. per acre 

* Under the charter we have cited, the west part of the old town of Dnnstahle became 
a parish or precinct, and, till the year 1746, was known as the west parish of Dunstable. 

In Mirch, 1742, very soon after the new province line was run between Ncw-Hampshiro 
and Massaclmsetts, all that part of the town of old Dunstable north of the new line, nnd 
west of the Mciriiiiack river, was organized into what was called a district, and was known 
as "the district of Dunstuljle." This district-organization was made for the purpose of 
collecting province taxes, and lasted till 1746, when the same territory was divided into 
the towns of Dunstable, Merrimack, Monson and Hollis. The parish officers were assessors, 
collector, treasurer and clerk, annually elected at the parish-meetings. The district-officers 
were selectmen, or assessors, tax-collectors and clerk, who were elected at district-meetings, 
which were held sometimes iu the west parish, and sometimes in the east. 



on all the unimproved land of non-residents for the term of five 
years for the support of the ministry. At that time there were but 
about twenty resident families. ' If each of these families owned, on 
an average, 1000 acres (an estimate quite large enough) , the resident 
settlers would have had 20,000 acres, leaving upon these estimates 
50,000 to the non-residents. A tax of 2d. the acre on this last 
quantity would have yielded an annual fund of £416 13s., or about 
$1380 in the currency of the present time, calling the pound $3.33. 
We shall soon see what importance the first settlers of Hollis at- 
tached to this right to compel non-residents to pay for the preacliing 
and meeting-houses of the resident settlers. 

THE FIRST PARISH MEETING AND ITS DOINGS, AND THE FIRST 
MEETING-HOUSE. 

The first parish-meeting, under the parish-charter, was held at the 
inn of Lieut. Benjamin Farley, Jan. 22, 1739-40, O. S. Mr. 
Farley's inn was the place where the parish-meetings were commonly 
held till the first meeting-house was built, and is said to have been 
upon the farm formerly owned by Dr. "William Hale, and now by 
INIr. Christopher Smith. The warrant for this meeting, lilce all 
Bimilar warrants, was entitled, in its margin, "Middlesex SS.," mean- 
ing by these words, county of Middlesex, Massachusetts. It was under 
the hand and seal^bf Joseph Blanchard, Esq., of Dunstable, at that 
time one of "his majesty's '"justices of the peace of that county, and 
was addressed to Abraham Taylor, one of the early settlers in the 
parish, who had been active in obtaining the charter, and who was 
annually elected parish-clerk till his death, about four years after. 

At this first meeting Mr. Taylor was elected moderator and clerk ; 
]Mr. Taylor, Peter Powers and Benjamin Farley, assessors ; Stephen 
Harris, treasurer ; Thomas Dinsmore, collector of the non-resident 
money ; and Peter Powers and Benjamin Farley, a committee to 
procure preacliing till the first of April following. "Also it was 
voted that Abraham Taylor, Peter Powers and Thomas Dinsmore be 
a committee to joyn with such Persons as the old Parish shall ap- 
point for to raise Bounds between each Parish." At this meeting 
also the following vote was passed in respect to a meeting-house : 
" Voted to build a House for the Public Worship of God : That said 
House be Erected at or near Thomas Dinsmore's House Lot of Land. 
That the House be 22 feet one way and 20 the other — 9 foot stud — 
well-boarded and shingled — One Flour — One Door — 3 windows and 
as many Seats as may be thouglit convenient — the House to be Erected 
by the last of April next." 

The liouse lot of Thomas Dinsmore is said to have been upon the 
farm now owned by John Colburn, Esq. But no meeting-house was 
built upon or near that site, the vote to that effect having been re- 
considered at a meeting in the following INIarch. After four or five 
other sites had been proposed at various meetings and rejected, it 



was Jit last, at a meeting held Nov. 5, 1740 : "Voted that the Mcct- 
ing-House should be Erected on Abraham Taylor's Land, about 
Sixty Rods Southerly from said Taylor's Dwelling-House, on the 
highest Knoll of Land thereabouts, and that the Burying Place 
for the Parish be ajoiuing the Place now appointed for ye Meeting 
House." 

Tliis is the same pleasant and hallowed spot on which, a fcAv years 
later, the second meeting-house was built, the same where the third, 
still standing, was erected more than eighty years after, the site for 
it and the burial-gTOuud having been given by Mr. Taylor, who 
died in the spring of 1743, and was the first person buried in it. It 
appears that the new edifice was not wholly completed for a year or 
more after its location was fixed, as we find that it was voted at a 
parish-meeting, Oct. 23, 1741, "To have one Gla.ce Winder in the 
Meeting House and to have it under-Pind as soon as possable." 

THE FIRST PARISH-TAX, WITH THE NAMES OF THE TAX-PAYERS. 

In the month of November, 1740, by vote of a parish-meeting, the 
first tax was assessed upon the inhabitants " for DefraA'ing the ne- 
cessary charges of the Parish," amounting to £16 2s. 2d. The tax 
list contains the names of 29 persons, viz. : « 

Zacliariah Lawrence, Jr. Josiah Blood Nathaniel Bloofl 

Enoch Hunt Peter Powers Philip Woohich 

Eleazer Flas'g Benjamin F'arley Moses Proctor 

Sanmel Cumings Jerahmael Cumiugs John Butteriiekl 

"William Blanchard Samuel Farley Elnathan Blood 

Abraham Taylor David Nevins Henry Barton 

Stephen Harris William Nevins Thomas Dinsmore 

William Colburn Widow Nevins Amos Philips 

Kobert Colburn William Shattuck Gideon Behouey, 

Peter Wheeler David Kendall 

nearly all of them family names, familiar to the people of Hollis from 
that time to this. 

By a province law passed in 1734, all male persons of the age of 
sixteen years and over, with the exception of the governor, settled 
ministers, and a few others, were subject to a poll-tax. The above 
tax-list may be presumed to contain the names of all male persons 
above that age at that time inhabitants of the parish. Six of the list 
are charged with a poll-tax only ; the remaining twenty-three, in- 
cluding the widow Nevins, with both a poll and property-tax. Of the 
above tax of about £16, very near £13, or more than three-fom-ths 
of it, were assessed on twenty-eight persons as a poll-tax, and less 
than £3 upon real and personal estate. The sum assessed upon 
each poll was 9s. 2d., while the highest propei-ty-tax Avas only 6s. 
7(1. I may have occasion, in another connection, to advert again to 
this matter of taxation. 



THE NON-rtE8IDEXTS' MONEY, OU NOX-RESIDENT TAX OF 2d. THE 
ACRE AND THE DISPOSAL OF IT. 

As tills tax was a matter of much interest, and some trouble to tlic 
residents of the parish, it is entitled to further notice as illustrating 
the laws and usages of the good people of that time, and especially 
the ways and means which were supposed to be lawful and right for 
the raising of money for the support of " learned, able and ortliodox" 
ministers. 

The warrant for the third ])arisli-mccting, held in INIarch, 1740, 
with other articles to be voted on, contained the following : 

1st. " To see what Encouragement the People will give to any Person or 
Persons for Killing Rattlesnakes in this joarish." 

2d. "To see if the Parish will agree to dispose of the Non-Resident 
money that shall be due and coming to this Parish for the space of five 
years from the 1 st of January last to any Person or Persons who shall agree 
to Support the Gospel in this Parish." 

At tlic above meeting it was voted : 

1st. "That if any Person shall make it appear to the Committee of the 
Parish that he has Killed one or more Rattlesnakes in this Precinct, in this 
present year, he shall have paid to him cue shilling for every such snake so 
killed, out of the Parish Treasury." 

Also unanimously voted, " That Peter Powers & Abi-aham Taylor shall 
have the Total of all such sum or sums of money as is or shall be assessed 
on Land belonging to non-Resident Proprietors of this Parish for the space 
of five years from the 1 st of January last, on condition that the said Powers 
and Taylor shall & do oblige themselves & Heirs with sufficient secui-ity to 
maintain and constantly support Preaching in this Precinct for ye full term 

of ye said five years and Erect a Meeting House for the Public Worship 

of God agreeable to the tenor of the vote of said parisli and likewise 

fully accpiit and discharge said Parish from the cost & charges that have 
been expended in being set off from Dunstable & being erected into a 
separate Precinct — and also from the cost & charges that has been expended 
in getting Timber for a Bridge across Nashaway River, and also to pay 
Mr. Underwood for his Preaching with us in this Parish." 

The question Avas once asked, "Of whom do the Kings of the 
Earth take custom or tribute, of their own children or strangers?" 
The answer was, "Of strangers." It would seem from the doings 
of the above meeting that the early settlers of the west parish of 
Dunstable had taken lessons in finance from the "Kings of the Earth." 

AVithin about a year from the time of this meeting, after a long 
and angry controversy, the new province line between New-IIamp- 
shirc and ]\Iassacliusetts Avas surveyed and estabhshed where it now 
is. Much to the chagrin and (lisapi)()intinent of the inliabitants, 
that part of the old town of Dunstable now known as Mollis was 
found to be in New-Hampshire. In consequence of this decision, 
the charter of the Avest parish in Dunstable, granted by the general 



court of Massaclmsetts, was vli'tually annulled, that , general court 
lia\in<>- had at the time no power to grant it. With the charter the 
legal right to assess this tax of two pence the acre on the land of 
non-residents was also lost, and with the tax the very thrifty 
bargain Avith Messrs. Powers and Taylor in respect to the disposal 
of it. 

"In this dilemma, the Inhabitants promptly met (Feb. 19,1741- 
2), and "voted to petition the Grate and General Court of N. 
Hampshire that the Parish be made a Township, and also that the 
Parish may have power to collect of delinquent persons, the several 
sums they may have been assessed at agreeable to the Laws of the 
Massachusetts Province." 

But instead of gi-anting this petition for a township-charter and to 
legalize the non-resident tax, the general covu-t, as we have already 
seen, in March, 1742, organized all that part of oklDunstable north of 
the new province line and west of ]Merrimack river, into a district for 
the collection of province taxes, with authority for that purpose, to 
elect district-assessors or selectmen, and a tlistrict-clerk and collect- 
ors of taxes. 

The first meeting for the election of district-officers, was held un- 
der the direction of a committee of the general court, probably h\ 
the cast parish, April 23, 1742. At this meeting, Abraham Taylor 
was chosen clerk ; Abraham Taylor, Thomas Ilarwood, Samuel Cum- 
mings and Jonathan Lovewell selectmen. The record for the year 
1743 is lost. In 1744, John Boynton was district clerk ; and John 
Boynton, Jonathan Lovewell and Jerahmael Cummings, selectmen 
or assessors. In 1745, John Boynton was district clerk; John 
Boynton, Jonathan Lovewell, and Jerahmael Cummings assessors 
or selectmen. 

Still, however, the inhabitants of west Dunstal^le continued to 
hold public meetings, elect officers and assess taxes much as before, 
and in the records of their doings their community Avas styled a 
"parish "or "precinct." Notwithstanding their disappointment in 
the loss of their charter, and at finding themselves citizens of Xew- 
Ilampshire against their wishes, they were not yet able to forget the 
"Non-resident Money," or to abandon the hope of obtaining it. 
"With this hope in view, at a public meeting held in January, 1744, 
it was " Voted that Peter Powers should have all the non-residents' 
money that is not Collected for the four years past and the year to 
come, * * and for the said Powers to pay all the Parish Del)t 
for Preaching and to any other Person for Sarvis Don the Parish 
before the ordination * * and to pay the Parish £40. O. T. at 
the end of the year." It is to be inferred from the doings of a parish 
meeting in the following December, that these non-resident land- 
owners had questioned the right of Mr. Powers to collect this tax, 
and that it was not paid so cheerfully as the purchaser had hoped. 
As a last remedy for this trouble, it was voted at this meeting, " that 



Capt. Powersj-epresent tlie Parish at the General Court of New- 
Hampshii-e to get ye Massachusetts Act for taxing ye Land in said 
Parish confirmed if he will go at his own charges — otherwise not to 
go." The record does not show w^hether Capt. Powers accepted the 
honor of the office, with its condition, or not. 

The charter of Mollis as a town, bore date April 3, 1746, and 
embraced a territory much less than one half of that contained 
in the charter of west Dunstable. Tliis town-charter was wholly 
silent in respect to the right to tax non-residents for any purpose. 
To supply this omission, at a town-meeting held on the 22d Decem- 
ber of the same year it Avas " Voted to liaise two Pence per Acre 
LaAvful INloney on all the Land of Hollis for five years for ye Sup- 
port of ye Gospel and ye arising charges of said Town, and to Peti- 
tion the Grat and Geuerall Court for Streangth to Gather and Get 
the Money of Non-Residents." Samuel Cummings, Esq., was cho- 
sen a delegate to present this petition, which he did in the following 
April. In answer to this petition the general court of Xew-Hamp- 
shire passed an act taxing all the land in Hollis for four years at two 
pence the acre for the support of the ministry and finishing the 
second meeting-house, the frame of which had then been raised. 
All the lands in Hollis were taxed under this law for the next four 
years (as stated in the town records), "for the Building and Ivepair- 
ing a Meetiug-House and the Supporting the Gospel Ministry." 
This tax Avas assessed in the old-tenor currency, £4 of Avhicli at that 
date appear to have been of the value of £1. lawful, or silver 
money. In 1747 this tax amounted, in the old-tenor currency, to 
£394 17s. 8d. Of that sum, £250 6s. 8d., or more than tAvo-tlmxls 
of it, were assessed upon 33 non-resident land owners, and the 
residue, £138 lis., on 48 residents. In 1748, £506 3s. were as- 
sessed for the like purpose, of which £350 4s. 8d., again more than 
two-thirds of it, were assessed on 31 non-residents, and the balance 
on 52 residents. Whatever we may think of the justice of this 
law, it seems to have had the good effect of lessening the number, 
and also the quantity of land in Hollis owned by non-residents, and 
of adding to the number of residents, and to theh proportion of 
the land. In 1750, the last year of the law, the resident land- 
owners had increased from 48, in 1747, to 70. And the non-resi- 
dents had fallen off from 33 in 1747, to 24 in 1750, and the 
amount of the land-tax paid by the two classes had become much 
more equal. 

It seems, however, that all these non-residents did not acquiesce 
in the justice of this law so cheerfully as they might have done. As 
an instance of their dislike to it, we find that in 1748 Col. Prescott's 
heirs were taxed under it the considerable sum of £48 13s. 4d. for the 
support of preaching they could not hear, and that they had had an 
ai'ticle inserted in the warrant for the toAvn-mecting asking for an 
abatement of tliis tax. In response to this petition, as the record 



9 

states it, " It was put to vote to see if the Town would Ease Col. 
Prescott's Heirs of any part of their Land Tax, and it was passed in 
the negative." 

To me, at least, as a native of the town, and one of the descendants 
of these woi-thy people, their names and memories are sacred, " All 
their failings leaned to virtue's side." Their ashes have slept for 
near a century in peaceful and honored graves, and the foot of the 
stranger Avho knows their Avorth, would tread lightly upon them. 
I have made these extracts from their annals with no irreverent or 
unfilial feeling, but to illustrate some of the differences between the 
laws, customs and sentiments that prevailed among good and chris- 
tian people in New-England one hundred and twenty years ago, and 
those upon the like subjects under whose influence the last two 
generations have been educated. 

PEEACIIIXG BEFOKE THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FIRST MINISTER, 
AND THE MANNER OF PROVIDING IT. 

The new parish had no settled minister till the spring of 1743, — 
more than three years after the date of the charter. In the mean 
time the inhabitants had manifested a very commendable zeal in their 
efforts to comply with the laws in respect to the support of the 
ministry. At their first parish meeting, as we have seen, a com- 
mittee was chosen "to provide Preaching till the following IVIarch." 
In the month last named, " Samuel Cummings and Eleazer Flagg" 
Avere commissioned " to provide Preaching and Entertainment for the 
minister for the next three mouths." In July, 1741, it was "voted 
that Abi-aham Taylor and Peter Powers have the non-resident money 
for the current year to pay jNIr. Underwood and Mr. Towle * * * 
and to procure Preaching till the first of Januaiy next, if the 
money shall hold out." In September, 1741, the first article in the 
warrant for a meeting then lield, was " to see whether it be the minds 
of the People to do any thing towards the Bringing forward the 
Settling of a Earned and Orther Dox iSIinister in this Parish." And 
in February, 1742, it was "Voted That any Person who shall here- 
after Entertain any INIinister for this Parish shall have paid to him 
Eight Shillings for one Sabbath day and 20' a Week if he stay longer." 

DOINGS OF THE PARISH PREPARATORY TO THE SETTLEMENT OF 
THE FIRST MINISTER. 

At a parish meeting held in October, 1741, before it Avas publicly 
known that any part of the town of Old Dunstable Avas on the wrong 
side of the province line, it Avas voted, 

1st. "That Stephen Harris, Abraham Taylor & Peter Powers be joyned 
in Committee with Benjamin Farley and Samiael Cummings to take some 
proper Measures to bring forward the settling of a Larned and Orther Dox 
Minister in this Parish as soon as conveuiency will alow." 
2 



10 

2tL " That said Committee be dii-ected to observe the following instruc- 
tions, viz., That they wait upon the Rev. Mr. Trobridge, Mr. Hemmingway, 
and the Rev. Mr. liliss and Mr. Swan and desire, their assistance in keeping 
and solemnizing a Day of Fasting and Prayer in this Parish and Seeking 
the Direction of Heaven in the affair." 

3d. " That said Committee should make their Address to said INIinisters 
for their Advice and Direction what Ministers to apply ourselves too to 
Preach with us on Probation." 

At a parish meeting December 28, 1741, among the accounts pre- 
sented and allowed were the following : 
" Voted to alow Abraham Taylor — 

" For Entertaining Ministers at the Fast £3. 00'. 0'^ 
« For Entertaining Ministers Five Sabbaths £2. 00'. 0*^." 

The warrant for this meeting was the last in which the words " Mid- 
dlesex ss." were written in the top margin. It soon became known 
to them that the parish of West Dunstable was not in the county of 
Middlesex, that their charter, as a legal instrimient, was w^orthless, 
and that there was no law by which the minority of the inhabitants 
could be bound by the votes of a majority. Embarrassed by the 
decision in respect to the new line and the loss of their charter, our 
ancestors did not folter in their effort to bring forward and settle a 
"Larned and Orther Dox Minister." With this end, with others in 
view, the inhabitants, as we have said before, metiuFebraary, 1742, 
and petitioned the general court of New^-IIampshire for a township 
charter. No other public meeting of the inhabitants was held till the 
17th of January, 1743, near a year after, v/hen they came together 
by common consent, and by mutual agreement in their personal and 
individual capacity, invited the Rev. Daniel Emerson, tbe candidate 
of their choice, to become their minister. As I think the proceed- 
ings of this meeting and of that which next followed, cannot fail to 
interest others as well as myself, I have taken the pains to transcribe 
the substance of them from the record. 

THE CALL OF THE SOCIETY, ANSWER OF THE CANDIDATE, IIIS 

SETTLEMENT AND SALARY, 

AND THE W^AYS AND MEANS OF rROYIDING IT. 

" Att a meeting of the Inhabitants of the West Parish in Dunstable 
regularly assembled January 17. 1742. 3. Abraham Taylor chosen 
Moderator. 

" Unanimously voted and chose Mr Daniel Emerson for their Gospel 
INIinister to take the Pastoral care of the Flock of Christ in said Place. 
Also 

" Unanimously voted and agreed to give said Mr Emerson (on condition 
of his acceptance) for and toward his Settlement £400. common currency 
or £100. of the Massachusetts last Emition. Also 

"Unanimously voted to give said IVIinister for Lis yearly Sallary, During 



11 



his Ministry in said PLacc sncli a certain snm of Bills of Credit as will be 
equal to fifty Pounds of the Massacl^usetts last Emition (new). Also 

" Voted to give Thirty Cords of Fire Wood, Cord "Wood Length att said 
Ministers Door yearly. Also 

" Voted and chose Abraham Taylor, Samuel Brftwn, Enoch Hunt, Eleazer 
Flagg, Samuel Cummings, Peter Powers, AVilliam Colburn, Steplien Harris 
and Robert Blood to wait upon said Mr Emerson and communicate unto 
him the minds and Proposals of said Parish and desire his answer therein 
in convenient time. 

" In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands the Day above 
said." 



" Samuel Brown 
Abraham Taylor 
Enoch Hunt 
William Shattuck 
William Colburn 
Stephen Harris 
Eleazer Flas^g 



Benja 



Farley 



Jerahmael Cumings 
Samuel Cumings 
David Nevins 
Joshua Wright 
James Stewart 
Stephen Ames 
Robert Blood 



Benjn. Blanchard 
Zedekiah Drury 
Peter Powers 
Jonathan Danforth 
Samuel Farley 
William Adams 
Nicholas French 
Jerubbabel Kemp 
Peter AVheeler 
Josiah Brown 
William Blanchard 
Henry Barton 
Nathaniel Blood 
Elnathan Blood 

Mak 



David Lowell 
Thomas Nevins 
Thomas Patch 
Nathaniel Blodgett 
Moses Proctor 
John Brown 
Daniel Kendall 
Josiah Blood 
William Nevins 
Samuel Douglas 
Joseph McDaniell 
James McDaniell 
James Whitney 
Joseph Farley." 
ing in all 43 names. 



The ])arish committee were prompt in communicating the foregoing 
call to Mr. Emerson, and on the 4th of the following March a meet- 
ing was called to consider his answer, which was entered upon the 
record as follows : 

" To the Inhabitants of the West Parish in Dunstable" 

" Whereas it has pleased the Great God (who has the Hearts of all men 
in his Hands) — to dispose and incline your Hearts to invite me to take the 
oversight of you and to Labour among you in Word and Doctrine as ap- 
pears by a vote preferred to me by the Committee, bearing date Jan. 17. 
1742. 3, I have from that time taken that important matter into the most 
close consideration and have asked the best advice and am (after many 
and great dilficulties in the way) come to this conclusion without^ Hesi- 
tation viz.: 

" If you will fullfill your Promis as to the £400. Settlement in old Tenor, 
only that the one part'of it be in Forty Acres of Good Land, near and con- 
venient to the Meeting House, firmly and forever convaied to me, and the 
other Part to be paid in Bills of Publique credit within a year from the 

date of this Answer And that for my yearly Sallary you give me such 

a certain Sum of Bills of Publicpie credit yearly, as shall be ecpial to 150 

ounces of coined Silver, which is the sum you propose together with 

Thirty Cords of Wood Cord Wood Length delivered at my Door And 

after your Parish Town or District shall by the Providence of God be in- 
creased to the number of 100 Families (and not desired or expected till 
then) you make an addition to my yearly Sallary of five ounces of coined 



12 

Silver per yoar till the same shall he equal to 200 Ounces of coined Silver 
— there to abide till the number of ygur Families arise to 150 — and then 
to Raise Five Ounces of Coined Silver per year till it arrives at 210 Ounces 
of Coined Silver — and there to abide and be no more, which is equal to £70. 
of the Massachusetts last Emitiou — Always expecting the Thirty Cords of 
"Wood — And that these Several Sums or Sum be continued to me, so long 
as I continue a Ghospel Minister over you — Always and in an espetial 
manner expecting that you will be Helpers with me by Prayer 

" Now if these before mentioned conditions be freely and voluntarily acted 
on and secured to me — as you promist in the call — then I as freely and wil- 
lingly accept of the call and freely subscribe myself yours to serve in the 
work of the Ghospel Ministry During Life. 

" Dunstable West Precinct March ye 4th 1743. 

" Daniel Emersox." 

The Record continues, " It was thereupon Voted and agreed to accept 
the Terms Mr Emerson proposed in his answer bouth as to settlement and 
sallary — All so voted that Samuel Brown, Abraham Taylor, Peter Powers, 
Eleazer Flagg and Samuel Cummings be a committee to consult with Mr 
Emerson in the choice of a council." 

On tlic same day and at tlie same meeting, as it appears in the re- 
cord, a mutual additional agreement was entered into by the tax- 
]>ayers, and signed by most of them, with a preamble setting forth 
tlic reasons that made tliis new agi-ecment necessary, the important 
parts of which are as follow : 

" "Whereas his majesty by the late determination of the Northern Bound- 
ary of the Massachusetts has left us the Subscribers, Inhabitants of the 
AVesterly part of Dunstable out of the Province to which we always supposed 
we belonged, and under whose Laws we Exercised the Privileges of a 
Parish — but by the said determination it is supposed by some that said In- 
habitants are Disquallified to make any Act, Agreement or Determination 
by a majority of voters as they otherwise might have done that should be 
Effectual to compel Persons to pay their honest Proportion of all such Rates 
and necessary charges that shall arise in calling settling and maintaining a 
minister. 

" Now therefore that we may Enjoy the Benefit of the Ghospel ordinances 
amongst us we have come into the following agreement and obligation viz." 

The contract with INIr. Emerson is set forth in tlMs new agree- 
ment ^^ verbatim, and the record then continues as follows : 

" Allso agreed that in the Payment of the Ministers Settlement & Sallary 
the assessors hereafter to be chosen Proportion such a certain part thereof 
to each Pole that when the Remainder thereof shall be levied upon Each 
Persons Real and Personal Estate, agreeable to the Rules of the Massachu- 
setts Province, that the highest Payer upon Estates shall be equal to a 
single Pole » * * * * 

" To the Performance of the aforewriten agreement we hereby covenant 
and oblige ourselves, in the Penal sum of £100. till such times as this society 
be incorporated a distinct Town or Parish." 

Thirty-seven names were signed to this agreement, some of which* 
were not upon the call. This agreement, as will be readily seen, 



13' 

was a voluntary compact, entered Into by those wlio signed it as 
their best expedient for the hick of a town or parish charter. 

Some other matters suggested by this contract between Mr. 
Emerson and his society are worthy of a few passing remarks, as 
iihistratiug the haws, customs and prevailing sentiments of the times, 
as well in ci^il as In church affairs. 

1st. It was agreed in this contract that the new minister for the pre- 
sent should receive for his yearly salary 150 ounces of coined silver, or 
their equal value in bills of public credit, the paper money of that 
day, and also 30 cords of wood. When the number of families In 
the society should reach 100, five ounces per year were to be added, 
till the salary should amount to 200 ounces, and it might afterwards 
be Increased to 210 ounces. 

The oz. Troy, used in weighing the precious metnls, contains 
480 grains. The American silver dollar contains 41 2| of those 
grains, making the value of the oz. of silver coin $1.14: 150 oz. 
=$171 :-200oz.=$228 : and 210 oz. =$239.40, in standard federal 
coin. 

Mr. Emerson was ordained April 20, 1743, and he continued a 
faithful, venerated and popular minister of that society till Nov. 27, 
1703, a period of more than fifty years, Avitliout a change, " or wish to 
change his place." At the latter date the llev. Eli Smith, who had 
married his granddaughter, was settled as his colleague, Mr. Emer- 
son retaining one half of his salary till his decease, Sept. 30, 1801, 
at the age of 85 years. 

During that long period the salary of the minister. In accordance 
with the tenor of their contract, was assessed upon the inhabitants 
of the town at the annual March meetings, and always voted, so far 
as appears from the record, without dissent or opposition. As we 
have seen, In the acceptance of the proposals made to him by the 
society, Mr. Emerson closed his answer with the woi'ds, "Yours to 
serve in the work of the Ghospel ministry during life." We have, in 
the pastorate of ]\Ir. Emerson, an apt illustration of what was under- 
stpod by our ancestors 130 years ago, by the settlement of a minlctcr 
in a country town in Xew-England, "during life." 

2d. We have seen that the society in their proposals to the candidate 
agreed to give him such a sum in bills of public credit, as Avould be 
equal to £50 of the "Massachusetts last Emition." This Massachu- 
setts last emission was, at that date, the latest Issue of paper money 
by that province, one pound of which, at that time, was worth 
£3.33 in coin, but like all paper money was veiy liable to depreci- 
ate. Not intending that the value of his pastoral services should 
depreciate, as paper money might, j\Ir. Emerson in accepting the 
call, with somcAvhat of worldly wisdom, not to say yankee shrewd- 
ness, took occasion to translate this £50 in' paper money into Its 
equivalent at the time In hard Sash. By this thoughtful caution, 



' 14 

lie secured to liimsclf for tlie following fifty years and more, a fixed 
liard money basis for the value of his parochial duties, a basis ever 
afterwards respected by the people of the town. 

The variable and uncertain value of the paper money in use in 
New-Hampshire, as shown by the town records, from 1741 till near 
the revolutionary war, and also during that war, is the best com- 
mentary upon the caution and foresight of Mr. Emerson in making 
his contract as he did. The general court of Massachusetts first 
issued bills of credit, as money, in 1G90, of which a fac simile is to 
be found in the Historical Collections of that State for the year 1863. 
In the year 1748 that province had its bills of credit in circulation, 
issued at different times, to the nominal amount of £2,200,000. 
These bills of credit at that time had so depreciated that £1 in silver 
was equal in value to £11 in paper. About that time this paper 
money Avas redeemed at that rate (eleven for one) in Spanish dol- 
lars, which had been received from England in payment of the 
services of the Massachusetts troops, at the siege and capture 
of Louisbourg, in 1745. But in New-Hampshire, from 1741 to 
1765, there appears to have been very little if any metallic money in 
use as a medium of exchange. As shown by the town records, the 
taxes for all purposes, during that period, were assessed and collected 
in some sort of paper money. Even the names by Avhich the various 
kinds and issues of this currency were known at the time, are to 
most of the present generation an unsolved riddle. 

Among these names we shall find on the records : " manufactory 
bills," "Mass. old tenor," "N. H. old tenor," "Mass. new tenor," 
"N. H. new tenor," " Mass. new emission," " N. H. new emission," 
" lawful money," &c. &c. ; all apparently differing in value as well 
as in name. 

Prior to 1760 the number of families in Mr, Emerson's society had 
not increased to one hundred, consecpicntly he was not yet entitled to 
an increase of his salary beyond the value of 150 oz. of silver, or of 
that of the £50 of the Massachusetts last emission as it Avas at the 
time of his settlement. 

Eor the payment of this salary (equal as Ave have seen to $171 in 
federal money), Ave find that the inhabitants AA'cre assessed, in the 
vears named beloAv, the folloAving sums in the paper money then in 
iise. 1753, £777. 10'. Q\ O. T. 1760, £404. 9% 8\ Mass. O. T. 
1761, £415. 6^ N.H.N. Tenor. 1763, £447. 15% 6 ■. N. II. O. T. 
1770, £67. 13". 8''. L. M. or sihcr money. In the year last named 
paper money appears to have gone AvhoUy out of use. The like vari- 
ation in the A^alue of this currency is shown in the prices fixed for the 30 
cords of Avood to be furnished yearly to the minister. This Avood 
Avas commonly assessed upon the tax ])ayers from year to year in 
kind, each of them being required to furnish at the minister's door 
a certain number of feet. If not delivered at the time fixed by vote 
of the town, the delinquent Avas to |rny for it at a price A^oted at the 



15 

previovis March meeting. The price of a cord of Avood fixed In tliis 
way for different years, was : for 1748, £1. ; 1750, £2. 10'. ; 17G0, 
£6. ; 1770, 3% G**. hiwful or silver money. 

3d. We shall also find, by examination of these records, that tlie 
mode of assessing taxes at that time, and the way in which tlicy were 
apportioned between polls artd estates, were radically different from 
our modern views and usages. 

We have seen, in the agreement entered into among them- 
selves by the members of Mr. Emerson's society, that by mutual 
consent they fixed upon a basis of taxation, as to polls and property, 
which, as stated in that instrument, " was agreeable to the rule of the 
Massachusetts province." This rule was to the eftect, that the tax 
for the support of the minister should be so apportioned among 
such as had real and personal estate and those subject to a poll tax 
only, in such way tiiat a single poll tax should be equal to the 
highest tax on property. In other words, the whole amount of the 
property tax of the richest man in the town, could be no more 
in amount than twice the poll tax of tlie poorest Avho Avas taxed 
at all. Under the law of Massachusetts, as we have before seen, male 
persons were subject to a poll tax at sixteen, and the same law was 
at the time in force in New-IIampshire. 

In illustration of this rule of taxation, I Avlll cite an example or 
two. The first tax after the ordination of Mr. Emerson Avas for 
£35, assessed to pay for the entertainment of the ordaining council. 
Of that sum, £27. 6«., or more than tlu'ce-fourths of it, Avere assessed 
upon 57 persons as a poll tax, and tlie balance, less than £8, upon 
property. 

The next tax AA'as for £035. 9\ G''. for Mr. Emerson's settlement 
and salary for the first year. Of that sum, £418. 9'. G''. AA-ere assess- 
ed as a poll tax on 62 persons, or about tAvo-thirds of the Avhole. 

As in taxes assessed for other purposes, so in those for support of 
the ministry, there Avas no laAV for the exemption of the person or 
property of any one except by vote of the town. The laAv in this 
respect appears to have been in full accord Avith popular sentiment, 
and the majority of the people Avere suflficiently tenacious of their 
legal rights under it. As an instance of public sentiment upon the 
question, Ave find that as late as 1785, Mr. Edward Spalding had an 
article inserted in the Avarrant for the annual ]March meeting : " To 
see if it Avere the minds of the people to exempt his estate from min- 
isterial tax, for the reason that he belonged to the Baptist denomina- 
tion." This question being submitted to the meeting, " the minds 
of the people" found expression in the folloAving clear and emphatic 
terms : " Voted, that the estate of Edward Spalding shall not be 
freed from minister's tax for the time past, present, or to come." 



16 

I have already referred to the Old French War In Avhich Lon'it^bnrp;* 
on the island of Cape Breton, was captured by the New-England 
troops. That war began in the spring of 1 744, and lasted four years. 
The settlement tlien at Ilollis was on the frontier, and like all other 
frontier settlements then in New-Hampshire, Avas kept in constant 
alarm from fear of attacks from the Canada Indians. A large number 
of the frontier inhabitants, in different towns, were killed, more taken 
captive to Canada, and some settlements wholly broken up. By 
reason of these fears, Mr. Emerson, with 54 of the inhabitants 
(probably all the householders), united in a petition to the general 
court of New-Hampshire for garrisons, and soldiers for a guard. 

Again in May, 1740, at the second town meeting, after the town was 
chartered, "It was Voted to Petition the General Court of jMassa- 
chusetts for som solders for a Gard for us, being in Gratt Danger 
of ye Enemy." 

Still again, in April, 1747, Samuel Cummings Avas chosen a dele- 
gate to the general court of New-Hampshire for a guard. In the 
petition for this guard, it was stated "thatHollis was on the frontier, 
and much exposed to the Indian Enemy. That the number of effec- 
tive men then in the Town did not exceed 50, and that most of them 
had families. That their situation was such that they could not work 
without a Guard, and if they could not be protected they must 
abandon their Husbandry and spend their time in watching and 
warding. They therefore prayed for ten or a Dozen Soldiers for a 
Scout till the Dangers of Summer and Fall were over and the harvest 
past," 

Whether guards were furnished or not in answer to any of these 
petitions, is not shown from the records ; but I well remember the 
tradition that in early times one or more of the houses in Hollis were 
occupied as garrisons for protection from the Indians. 

TOAA'N CIIxVRTER. 

About the 1st of April, 1746, all that part of old Dunstable, 
Iving in New-Hampshire, and west of the Merrimack river, was di- 
vided and incorporated into the new towns of Dunstable, Merrimack, 
Ilollis and ]Monson. 

Hollis, as bounded and described in its charter, began at the 
Nashua river on the province line, and run westerly on that line to 
the west line of old Dunstable 6 miles, 96 rods ; thence it run north 
on the old Dunstable line 4 miles and 140 rods ~(to jSIonson). 
Thence easterly on a line parallel to the south line to J\luddy lieacliX 
Thence by ]\Iuddy Beeeli, Flint's pond and Flint's beaeh to Nashua 
river, and thence by that river to the province line again. These 
boundaries left Hollis, as first chartered, about 6^ miles east and 
west, and about 4^ miles north and south, with an area of about 
27 squai-e miles. These boundaries, as will be seen, would have 
left the site of the meeting-house within about U miles of the 



17 

east line, and near 5 miles from the west, about 3 miles from 
the south, and 14^ mile from the north line. These boundaries seem 
to have been satisfactory to none of the people of Ilollis, and were 
the cause of long continued trouble and contention. 

In 1763 all that part of Hollis, then known as "one Pine Hill," 
now as Pine Hill, Avith the one omitted, lying west of Muddy Brook, 
Flint's pond and Flint's brook, was taken from Dunstable and an- 
nexed to Hollis, and in 1773 that part of the present town lying in 
the bend of, and east of Nashua river near Runnel's mills, was also 
taken from Dunstable and annexed to this town. 

The town of Monson lay next north of Hollis, extending to the 
Souhegan river, and contained about the same quantity of territory as 
Hollis. In 1770, on petition of its inhabitants, the charter of Mon- 
son was repealed, and about half of it on the south side annexed to 
Hollis and the residue to Amherst. 

In 1769, about 1^ nnleiin width, on the west side of Hollis, 
with what was called the " Mile 8lip,^' then lying between Hollis 
and Mason, was organized into a town, and incorporated by the 
name of liaby. In 1786, another strip about three fourths of a mile 
in width was taken from Hollis and annexed to Eaby. The name, 
Raby, on petition of its .selectmen, was changed to Brookline in 1796 
The last change in the boundaries of Hollis was made in 1794, when 
from two to four square miles were taken from its ^o«tli-west - Yf 
corner to aid in forming the town of Milford at the time of its 
incorporation. 

After all these several changes were made in the boundaries, and 
Hollis had been reduced to its present shape and area, I find from 
a survey and plan of it now in the office of the secretary of state in 
Concord (made in 1806, by Nathan Colburn), that the town, as it 
now is, contains 19,620 acres. 

THE SECOND MEETING-HOUSE, OPPOSITION — THE RAISING — PEW 
GROUND AND PEWS CARE OF THE MEETING- 
HOUSE — SINGING, ETC. 

In the year 1745, the taxable inhabitants of the West Parish of 
Dunstable had increased to 78. They had now had a minister for 
two years, and had begun to have a very painful sense of the small 
capacity of their little meeting-house, "22 feet one way, 20 the 
other — 9 foot studs, and one glass window." 

These feelings found expression in the doings of a parish-meeting 
held at the first meeting-house, Sept. 6, 1745, while the society was 
yet without a town or parish charter. At this meeting, as it ap- 
pears from the record, it was " unanimously voted to build a meet- 
ing-house 50 feet long, 44 feet wide and 23 posts in hight." 

" AU so voted unanimously to sett ye next meeting on ye Lott of 
Land ye present Meeting House Stands on, which was given for yt 
use." It will be observed that these doings of the parish meeting, 
3 



18 

before the boundaries were altered by the town charter, were entirely 
unanimous. 

At the first town-meeting held after the charter, April 28, 1746, 
the following vote was passed as found in the record. " Voted una- 
nimously to take on us the obligation to Mr. Emerson as it now 
stands in the covenant for his yearly salary so long as he remains 
our Minister." 

At a town-meeting held on the 13th of June, 1740, a vote was 
passed by a majority only confirming tlie doings of the society, the 
fall previous, in respect to the building the second meeting-house, 
and also a vote accepting, on the part of the town, the site that had 
been given to the parish for the meeting-house and burial ground. 
Such progress was afterward made with this new enterprise that at 
a town-meeting held on the 28th of the following July a vote was 
passed, by a majority of the meeting, " That the Meeting-House be 
raised on the 13th of August next "(1746), and that ye committee 
provide Victuals and Drink for ye People on Raising Day, and to 
bring it to the Fraim at noon. If they can't get it among our 
Friends, to provide it themselves." 

To the proceedings of both of these two last meetings, in respect 
to the locality of the meeting-house, and the building and raising i{, 
there appears to have been a very earnest and determined opposition 
by the people then living in the west part of the town, most of 
them, as is supposed, living in that part of the town which is now 
in Brookline. Quite a number of them had a written protest entered 
upon the records against the whole proceedings of the meeting, and 
after the vote was taken to raise the meeting-house on the 13th of 
August, next after the meeting, thirteen of these united in a memo- 
rial and complaint to the general court of New-Hampshire, praying 
"that a committee might be appointed to view the situation and fix 
the place for tlie meeting-house, and that the raising of it might 
be postponed till the committee could report." This memorial con- 
ceded that this location of the meeting-liouse was just and reasona- 
ble for the parish of West Dunstable as its bounds were originally ; 
but represented that it was very unjust and oppressive to them as 
inhabitants of the new town of Mollis ; that the site selected and 
agreed on by vote of the town was near five miles from the west line 
of the town, and within one mile and a half of the east line. This 
memorial was signed by James, Joseph, and Randall McDaniells, 
Stephen Ames, Jesse Wyman, Moses Proctor, and seven others, 
making thirteen in all. 

But I do not find any evidence that the general court interfered 
in the matter or that the raising of the meeting-house was delayed. 
Such progress was afterward made with the building, that in about 
two years after "Raising Day," a plan of the " Pew Ground," as it 
was called, was made by a committee of the town and accepted by a 
vote of a town-meeting. The plan of this pew ground embraced a 



19 

space on the lower floor next the walls, wide enough for a sinn-le rann-e 
of pews on each of the four sides, and this space was apportioned into 
sites or ground for about 20 pews. At a town-meeting on the 12th 
of Sej)tember, 1748, this pew gj^ound was disposed of by vote of the 
town as follows : 

" Voted that the liighest of the present pay on Real Estate have the 
Pew Ground on their paying £200, old tenor, to be applied towards 
finishing the Meeting- House — and the said Pew Men are to take their 
Pews for themselves and Wives — the JNIan and his Wife to be Seated 
according to their Pay." That is, as I interpret this record, the 
men who at that time paid the highest taxes on real estate were to 
have the luxury of owning and sitting in separate pews, the wife 
being permitted to sit in the same pew with her husband, — upon 
condition that the purchasers of the pew ground should build the 
walls of their pews, and pay £200, old tenor, towards the completion 
of the building. 

In December, 1748, this pew ground was disposed of by lot, 
those entitled to do so drawing for choice. Down to this day the 
record shows the amount of premium paid for each pew, by whom 
paid, and its precise location in the meeting-house, almost as clearly 
•as the actual view, with the man and his wife seated in it "accord- 
ing to pay on Real Estate." Mr. Enoch Hunt drew the first choice, 
paid for it £14. O. T., and chose the second pew at the right hand 
of the pulpit. Mr. Elias Smith drew the second choice, paid £14. 
O. T., and chose the second pew at the left hand of the pulpit. 
Capt. Peter Powers, third choice, and chose the first pew on the 
left hand of the front door. Lt. Benjamin Farley, eighth choice, 
took the third pew at the right hand of the east door, and paid for it 
£13. Dr. Samuel Cummings, thii'teenth choice, paid for it £9. 10s., 
and took the first pew at the left hand of t'he west door ; and so of 
the rest. 

The pulpit was not yet built ; but at the annual town-meeting in 
1749, it was voted " To Bould the Pulpit and the jNIinisteriall Pew 
and Stars as soon as the Bord wold do to work." It is not told how 
soon the " Bord wold do to work," yet it would appear that when 
this part of the joiner's work was first done, it was not thought so good 
as it should have been, as I find at the annual meeting in 1754 the 
town " Voted that the Pew before the Pulpit be taken down, if there 
may be a good Hansom Pew for the Town built, and a convenient 
Deacon's Seat, and Good Hansom Stairs to go to the Pulpit." At 
the same annual meeting in 1749, it was put to vote "To See If the 
Town would build two Porches to the Meeting-IIousc and it passed 
in the negative." 

The question in respect to the building of porches to the meeting- 
house was many times discussed in the town-meetings during the next 
twenty years. But none were built till about the year 1772, when 
a small one was erected on the south side of the mccting-housc for 



20 

passing Into the main building, one on tlie east side high and large 
enough for gallery stau's for the Avomen's gallery, and one on the west 
side for stairs for the men's gallery, with a belfry and steeple. 

This ancient second church edifice of Hollis, as originally com- 
pleted, long ago was dust, and has passed away among the things that 
w^ere and are not. All that w^as mortal of the Avorthy people who 
built and worshipped in it is also dust, and for nearly a century has 
reposed in the humble church-yard hard by. Yet from the 
hints and minutes preserved by them in their town-records, it would 
not require the genius of a CuAder or Agassiz to reconstruct this 
ancient edifice, both as to its interior and exterior, and to present 
in vivid perspective the old congregation of w^orshippers as it would 
have appeared to the eye of a looker-on one hundred and tw^enty 
years ago. We have already given its length, breadth and height, as 
first erected. It occupied the same spot with the present modest 
and comparatively stately church. 

The stumps of the sturdy forest trees that had grown on the com- 
mon before it and on the burial ground behind, still stood firmly 
rooted in their native soil. The roads that led to it, freshly cut, 
and little better than bridle paths, unfenced except wdth logs and 
brush-wood here and there through the scattered and stump-covered 
clearings, wound their lonely way through the dense, original forest. 
The building itself w^as a plain wooden structure, covered on its 
outside with split clapboards, unpainted except its doors, windows 
and water " Troves ; " as yet without porches, wdth one outside 
door on each of its south east and w est sides ; with a suitable num- 
ber of horse-blocks at convenient distances for the accommodation 
of such of the congregation as rode to meeting upon the side 
saddle or pillion, as well as of those who rode upon saddles with two 
stirrups. 

On the inside upon the lower floor, around next the four walls, 
was a single row of pews, in which, from Sunday to Sunday, were 
seated the patriarchs and dignitaries of the town, "the highest in 
Pay on Real Estate," with their wives and families. 

A broad aisle leading from the south door to the pulpit and dea- 
con's seat, divided the remainder of the lower floor into the east and 
west sides, the east being the "women's side," and the w^est the 
"men's side." Tliis area was furnished with long seats for such as 
could not afford, or were not permitted to enjoy the distinction of 
.pews; yet in making and arranging thTese seats, the committee 
charged with their construction were directed by the town-meeting 
to have them made and arranged " according to pay, having regard 
to age." 

The galleries were also divided between the sexes in the same way 
as the lower floor, — the west gallery belonging to the sterner, the 
east to the gentler sex, with separate flights i)f stairs in the south- 
west and south-cast corners leading to each of them, with tything- 



21 

men above as well as below to note all graceless irreverence and 
levity, especially in the youtliful ])T>iti()n of the congve^ation. 

The pulpit was at the end of tiie broad aisle, on the north side next 
the wall, witli a capacious sounding-board raised over it, so high that 
in after years it was ordered by the town meeting to be placed lower, 
if those who wished for the change " would pay the expense of mak- 
ing it." By the side of the pulpit, and leading into it, was a flight 
of "^'Hansom stairs," such being the kind voted by the toAvn. Im- 
mediately in front of the pulpit was the deacon's scat, where, accord- 
ing to the usages and established proprieties of those times. Deacons 
Patch, Cumings, Boynton and Worcester, in their small clothes, lono- 
hose, knee and shoe buckles, took their seats as models of gTavity 
and decorum to all the lay members of the congregation. 

" Cleanliness" was said, very long ago, to be "next to godli- 
ness," and cleanliness in respect to the care of their meeting-house 
was cultivated by our worthy foreftithers as if it ranked among the 
christian graces. At each annual town-meeting a sjjecial officer was 
chosen to take the care of the meeting-house for the ensuing year. 
The following extract from the town-record of 1773, furnishes an ex- 
ample of these appointments, and of the duties expected of the officer : 
" Edward Carter chosen to take care of the INIeeting House & He 
is to keep it well swept and clean ; To open and shut the Doors in 
Good Season, and Shovel the Snow fi-om the Doors, and Shovell 
Paths from the Doors to the Horse Blocks, and clean the Horse- 
Blocks well. He is to have Eighteen Shillings if done to the ac- 
ceptance of the Town — if not, to have Nothing." 

This picture of this ancient edifice cannot be truthfully embellished 
with stair or floor carpets, or with wood or coal furnaces, or with any 
other modei'n inventions for warming churches in winter. The only 
implement or convenience for this purpose then in use in country 
meeting-houses, was the little tin portable foot stove, with its basin 
for coals and ashes, which the younger members of the congregation 
were educated to carry to meeting in their hands for the" use and 
comfort of their pai'cnts and seniors. Even this was an indulo-ence 
that does not seem to have been favored, as is evident from a vote 
of the town, at the March meeting in 1776, of which a record was 
made in the following words : 

" Voted that all Stoves that shall be left in the Meeting House 
Shall be forfeited to the Saxton jNIr. John Atwell, & he may sell 
them if the owner shall refuse to pay him \ a Pistareen for the first 
offence & Doble that sum for the second oflfence, and the said Atwell 
Shall return the overplus after he is paid for his trouble for the use 
of the Poor of the Parish." 

Nor are we at liberty to garnish our picture with an organ, melo- 
deon, bass viol, or Avith a quartette, duet or other clioir of trained 
vocal singers. All these aids and accompaniments of modern con- 
gregational worship were then unknown. Yet this part of the public 



22 

devotional exercises was by no means omitted or neglected, and the 
singing is believed to have been quite as solemn as any portion of 
the religious exercises of that day or even of the present time. 

Whether a psalm were selected from 8ternhold and Ilophins, or 
a hymn from Dr. Watts, it was slowly read by the minister, one or 
at most two lines at a time, and sung by the congregation as read 
from the pulpit. When the minister had read from the book : 
"Hark from the tombs a doleful sound," or " My drowsy powers, why 
sleep ye so ? " he was expected to take a rest till the whole congn-e- 
gation had sung those lines before he should read the next. The 
congregation in this way would be quite sure to have some concep- 
tion of the ideas intended to be conveyed by the words of the hymn, 
a matter very certain not to be true in the ordinary opera performances 
of the modern quartette. 

The first reference to be found to a choir of singers in the town- 
records is in the doings of the annual meeting in 1767. The town 
then "Voted, that those Persons that have taken pains to instruct 
themselves in Singing may have the two fore Seats below on the mens 
Side." The next notice we find of singers and singing is in the pro- 
ceedings of the annual meeting in 1784. It was then voted, "That 
12 feet of the hind body Seats below next the Broad Aisle be ap- 
propriated to the use of Singers on condition that a certain number 
of them will give the Glass necessary to repair the windows." And 
lastly, in the year 1788, it was voted, "That the Ground now occupied 
by Singers shall not be appropriated to any other use, and that the 
Singers may be allowed to Sing once arday witliout reading." 

This seems to have been a final and decisive triumph on the part 
of the choir.. Thenceforth it not only secured toleration from the 
town-meeting, but approved recognition as a fitting adjunct of public 
worship, and a place to sit and stand in the church without the con- 
dition to pay for it in mending broken windows. At length, and 
before the end of the century, the choir was promoted to conspicuous 
seats fitted up specially for it in the front gallery, where it might 
sing its pajans of victory, and its songs of praise and devotion might 
be heard, till this venerable second meeting-house, having stood for 
nearly sixty years, at last fell before the hand of time and modern in- 
novation, and the edifice where we have now met was erected upon 
the same hallowed ground. 

Here my sketches of the Early History of Ilollis must for the pre- 
sent close, with many thanks to my audience for their indulgence, 
and for the kind forbearance with which I have been listened to so 
patiently and so long. 

In these imperfect sketches of the history of Hollis before the 
revolution, none of you can be more conscious than I am of many 
matters which it wmdd be interesting to us all to know, and of which 
I ought to liave spoken, had I time and you patience. 



23 

Among these matters Is the true original name of the town, the 
original act incorporating it, and the many other acts of the general 
court, making changes in its boundaries, and the earnest and violent 
controversies connected with several of these changes ; the names at 
least of the early town officers and magistrates ; the school laws, 
school houses, and schools of those times, and the way they were 
supported ; notices of the old French War, in which Quebec and 
Canada were taken, and of the soldiers furnished by Ilollis in that 
war ; somewhat of the history of the church, the laying out and mak- 
ing the first public roads, and the erection of the first bridges, espe- 
cially across the Nashua river, with some other matters of inter- 
est or curiosity. 

Tlie revolutionary history of Hollis, as it is now found in the 
town-records, and other original documents, is in the highest degree 
honorable to the men and women of those times. It presents a re- 
cord of which all their descendants may well be proud. There is 
not a page of it that one of them would wish to efface, or the record 
of a fact that they would desire to blot. These records on this sub- 
ject are said to be more complete than tliose of any other town in the 
county, and they ought to be carefully preserved and in some way 
perpetuated, as lessons in virtue, in patriotism and fidelity to the 
cause of liberty, to those that may come after us. 



V 



